Democrats Must Be Stupid

The $180 billion stimulus program in the spring of 2008 failed. The $345 billion housing bailout from the summer of 2008 failed. And the $700 billion Wall Street bailout from the fall of 2008 failed. True, those programs were signed into law under a Republication administration, but they were proposed and written by a Democrat-controlled congress.

Today, we have a situation where the Dems control everything. And they have the benefit of knowing that recent attempts to throw money at the problem have failed. Yet they have proposed another $787 billion* stimulus package to boost our failing economy. President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law yesterday. What part of "been there, tried that, didn't work" doesn't he and the rest of the democrats understand?

Democrats must be stupid, plain and simple. Ideologues to a fault, they believe one thing and one thing only -- that everyone and everything must be equal in this land, and that only after we achieve that equality will we prosper as a great and respected nation in the world community. They also believe that they know better than us how to achieve that goal. They want control. To do that, they want society to grow increasingly dependent on government. They want to control the banks. They want to control Wall Street. They want to control the auto industry. And most of all, they want to control you and me. Now that they're in control of the presidency and both houses of congress, they're working fast and hard to seize that power.

We're in the middle of a major recession. Once profitable businesses are going under. Tens of thousands of workers are losing their jobs each month. The DOW is plummeting. People are losing their savings. And how do the Dems want to handle the crisis? By playing the role of enabler. They want to throw another $787 billion at failing enterprises, finance new government projects, extend unemployment benefits, and give more money to the poor. How does that boost the economy? How does it create new jobs? It doesn't. All it does is reward mediocrity, encourage us to sit on our butts, and make sure the poor stay poor. What incentive does that provide to encourage us to help ourselves, to work hard and get ahead? Why even bother if big brother is there to step in and bail us out every time things get tough?

The White House estimates the stimulus will save 3.5 million jobs and put Americans to work. The package may very well create or maintain sustainable employment, but it does so at the cost of $787 billion to the American taxpayer. That works out to nearly $225,000 in new spending for each new job created.

Our country was built around the concepts of capitalism and free enterprise. We need to believe in those principles once again if we want to fix the ailing economy. And all we need do is look to the recent past to see what has worked. Cut taxes. Offer incentives to consumers to buy new products. Offer incentives to encourage companies to create the products consumers want to buy. Might not that same $2 trillion have been better spent by encouraging just that?

*(The $787 billion, along with the $1.2 trillion already spent, amounts to nearly $2 trillion in taxpayer dollars thrown at trying to fix our faltering economy.)

No Longer Tolerant of Tolerance

Now that I'm older, I'm pretty much set in my ways. I'm tired of pompous and pretentious ideologues telling me what to do and how to think. I hate all this political-correctness crap! We've abandoned free thinking and turned into a nation of infectious, cool-aid drinking zealots. I'm tired of exercising tolerance beyond the point of reason. I never liked it, but I gave it a chance. Now I've decided I'm not going to play that game any more. It's leading us to ruin.

Here are a couple of my latest gripes. I bring them up only because the new administration has once again thrust them into the limelight.

1. I am pro-life as a rule, but would allow for exceptions to that rule as each circumstance may require. I don't believe that broad-based, sweeping legislation should determine this delicate issue. It's simply too complicated, and it involves so much more than the individual rights of the mother.
   
2. I tolerate gay rights, but do not support gay marriage. Some will label me homophobic, others will not. I simply yearn for the day when members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (did I leave anyone out?), and yes, even heterosexuals, decide to keep their sex lives private. I don't want to hear about what people do, where they do it, nor with whom and how often they do it. And I damn sure don't want my grand kids to hear about it either.